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User blog:JohnnyOTGS/JohnnyTalk World~How a Katana is made
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of JohnnyTalk World Today I am going to give you the lowdown on how one of the best swords ever made: the Katana is made. If I hadn't made it apparent yet, my favorite foreign country is none other than the land of the rising sun: Japan. Not because of Godzilla or Anime or Power Rangers or Hello Kitty. But because of something much cooler than all of the preceding. The Samurai, the Ninja, it's castles and of course a weapon that is synonymous with the Samurai: the Katana. The Katana is arguably one of the sharpest weapons ever created, let alone one of the sharpest swords. It's legend rivals that of the Medieval Broadsword in many surprising ways. To the Samurai during the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period), their Katana is more than just a weapon they use in battle, to them, the Katana was the resting place for their soul, it is their defense against the world. But how a magnificent weapon like a Katana is made? Well, this is what this blog will cover. The beginning Most Katanas are made using this strange metallic material which is called Tamahagane. Tamahagane is a man-made metallic material. During the Sengoku Jidai, Tamahagane was the "go-to" metal to make Katanas. Today, however, this is the metal that is what makes a Katana authentic. Unlike the modern 1080 steel used today, Tamahagane has a combination of high carbon steel (hard steel) and low carbon steel (soft steel). Now, each of these aforementioned metals have their ups and downs. Hard steel can keep a really good edge, but it's as brittle as glass. Soft steel is tougher as it'll just bend and warp, but it'll lose its cutting edge if it takes enough hits. The Katana has to have the ability to not just keep its edge, but also be tough and not break as well as be flexible. How Tamahagane is made is that sand iron is collected from a dried river bed, and a clay smelting chamber known as a Tatara is also made. In the Tatara, the people would be responsible to put in large amounts of sand iron along with charcoal. The idea behind it is to have the sand iron to absorb the charcoal and it absorbs the carbon which is crucial to make the Tamahagane. This goes on continuously for around 2 to 4 days. After those days have passed, the Tatara's walls bulge out and the people begin to break the Tatara down and rake away any excess charcoal and they take out the Tamahagane. The Tamahagane is then taken to some of Japan's best swordsmiths, and only the best swordsmiths in Japan know of the Tamahagane. Through the years, there were many ways to make a Katana. However, the best way is to have it laminated. The number 2 method (called the Kobuse) is how Katanas from World War 2 to today are made. Once the swordsmiths receive the Tamahagane, they heat the impure metal and they try to sort out the parts of it that are hard from the parts that are soft if it breaks it's the hard steel if it bends and warps it's the soft steel. Then they would fold the 2 metals to make sure that several layers that would make the Katana more tough and resistant to contact. A Katana can be folded back up to around 10 to 15 times and can have several layers of steel, each being no thicker than tissue paper. The hard steel is then made into the outer steel which would be the "power" part which will have the cutting edge. The soft steel is then made into a small inner part where the Katana gets its resistance to contact. That is when the 2 metals would be welded together by intense heat and pressure and then made into that sword that not just Japan but the entire world knows and loves. But, there is still a lot of work to be done. The swordsmith would then take some charcoal, grind it up into a powder and then mix it in with water. What this does is that it makes into a special paste which then the swordsmith would put on the recently finished Katana's back end. What this does is that it holds in heat. It's for the process of heating the blade and then quenched in water. This paste is often seen after the Katana is quenched and done, this wavy pattern on the Katana is called the Homon, which gives the Katana a "unique identity" if I must say. As the Katana is then brought into the process of heating and quenching, it is usually taken out when the blade is orange, and then it is quenched. As it's quenching, this causes the blade to be modified, the tip of the Katana goes down as the hard steel cools off, but as the back end (with the pate on it) begins to cool down, it causes the tip of the blade up which makes the Katana take on its iconic curved shape. But the process isn't over yet. After the forging, it is then taken to other artists of making a Katana. The kind of artists of Katanas that can "polish" the blade. These artists use a surprisingly huge system of polishing stones. The idea behind polishing a Katana is that it adds to its iconic cutting power, depending on how polished it is, it reduces friction which allows the cut to be faster, finer and deeper. It takes up to around 2 weeks to a month to bring a Katana up to a fine polish. The final stage of the polishing doesn't come until the stone is a small wafer with the thickness of paper. By then, the Katana has the consistency of a mirror. But just before a Katana can be considered complete is when it can cut through whatever it's cutting in one swipe. Back during the Sengoku Jidai, they used dead bodies or in some situations, live bodies of prisoners to test the cutting power of the Katana. Today, straw mats are used. Now how about some history of the Katana, when did it get its start and how it went through history? Well, nearest we can tell it was introduced during the Muromachi Period, sometime around the 15th century. But it wasn't widely used until sometime in the Sengoku Jidai, especially when Portuguese Merchants arrived in Japan in 1543, and with it, they also brought along firearms in the form of the Arquebus (which would lead to the creation of the Tanegashima) which demanded more traditional warfare and gave the Katana more of a purpose. Even after the Sengoku Jidai and with the dawn of the Edo Period, the Katana still had a purpose. It became more than a mere weapon, it became the "badge" of the Samurai (much like a modern soldier's dog tags), and it was also something like a permit for the Samurai to have total authority over the people in the lower classes, especially when paired with the shorter Tanto, the 2 blades would be called Daisho and added to the ID of the Samurai. Though, with the Meiji Restoration, the Katana was banned by the new Empire. No soldier was allowed to even have one in his possession. The Katana then saw some combat again during Japan's conquest of Asia such as the 2 Sino-Japanese Wars, the Russo-Japanese War and World War 2. Making Katanas were made illegal during Japan's 8-year occupation by the USA, but as the occupation was over, Katanas were made once again, only this time with modernized steel (like the 1080 steel) and are now being made all over the world. Well, that is all for this edition of JohnnyTalk. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out. Category:Blog posts